


The Adventure of the Teapot

by BarPurple



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: magical mishaps, magical transformation, slight crossover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-12
Updated: 2016-06-12
Packaged: 2018-07-14 17:08:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7181765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarPurple/pseuds/BarPurple
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The sale of the little teapot wasn't the worst mistake Henry could have made the first time he minded the pawnshop on his own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Adventure of the Teapot

**Author's Note:**

> This fic sprang from a line in Christmas Knits (http://archiveofourown.org/works/6664315) It sort of sits within the Spin Me a Yarn verse, but came out a little darker and doesn't feature knitting so I'm leaving it as a stand alone.

Henry carefully fanned out the index cards that listed each of his sales for today. Seven of them, not a huge number, but it wasn’t as if he had targets to meet. Working in Grandfather’s pawnshop was more about learning a bit of magic and spending time with one of the blacker sheep in his complex family tree. Tensions were easing and most of the old hatchets had been buried, (thankfully not in anyone’s skull), but there was still sometimes a pause before Rumpelstiltskin was included in any family gathering.

Today he’d not seen much of his Grandfather, and Henry was rather proud of that fact. Rumple had announced this morning that it was time for Henry to stand on his own two feet. 

“I’m leaving you in charge today, Henry. There’s a small coach of tourists scheduled to arrive around eleven, so it won’t be an easy day cleaning, you’ll have customers to see to as well.”

Henry hadn’t been the only one trying to keep his grin under control; Rumple had been waiting for this day as well, he hadn’t been willing to drop Henry into running the shop solo unprepared, he’d insisted on months of patient lessons before he’d even been happy to take lunch at Grannys while Henry was in the shop alone. If the lad could manage this then Regina wouldn’t be able to nag him about shutting up when the antiques trail coaches arrived in town. 

“Don’t sell anything out of the locked cabinets and you’ll do fine.”

Henry had waited until the shop door closed and he’d counted to ten under his breath before he’d indulged in a small victory jig. He quickly got himself under control and smoothed his tie back into place before starting work.

 

Rumple had returned just before closing and was looking over the index cards while Henry failed at nonchalantly wiping down the counters. Of course the lad would be waiting for some sort of feedback on how the day had gone, right now Rumple was impressed. He was about to say as much when he caught sight of the details on the final card. His head snapped up and his eyes found the empty space in the locked cabinet. Oh no, the lad couldn’t have been that stupid. Had this been anyone else Rumple would have started yelling, but he took a deep breath and in a careful flat tone said;

“Henry. This teapot, which cabinet was it in?”

The lad had picked up on the tension in his voiced and approached him carefully. Rumple never had the impression that Henry was scared of him, in fact in this moment he forcibly reminded Rumple of Bae when he’d been caught in some minor act of naughtiness. 

“The one with the playing cards on it? It was over there on the second shelf.”

Henry pointed to the run of ordinary open shelves. Well, that proved the suspicion he’d been entertaining for a while.

“What have I done wrong, Grandfather?”

Henry sounded worried, which was the natural reaction. Rumple pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“That is one of the teapots that came over with Jefferson from Wonderland. It has certain properties that are not going to be understood in,” Rumple glanced at the buyer’s address that Henry had carefully written on the card, “Castle Rock, Maine.”

“Why was it on the safe to sell shelf?”

Had that question come from a different member of this extended family Rumple probably would have snapped and accused them of trying to shift the blame, but Henry just wanted to know what they were dealing with.

“I’ve suspected for a while that it has a mind of its own. I should have locked it away, but…”

Rumple gave a one shouldered shrug and Henry nodded.

“You wanted to test out what it could do. Okay, so road trip?”

Grandfather gave him a wide eyed look of disbelief; “You want to help get it back?”

“Yeah, we can’t leave it out there, it’s imported magic, it’s going to do whatever it does and there’s a paper trail that leads right back here, not a good thing. You need me to come because I already know Mrs Collins.”

There was really no argument with the logic of that, so Rumple walked into the backroom to grab his cane and his coat.

“Just let your mothers know what we’re doing. I don’t want to be in trouble for you missing dinner.”

 

Castle Rock wasn’t that far away from Storybrooke, Rumple had enough time during the short drive to tell Henry what the teapot could do, which prepared the lad for the sight they found on reaching the address of the unfortunate buyer.

“Erm.”

“Aye.”

“We’re on the edge of town. Maybe no one’s noticed that yet?”

Rumple blew out a hard breath; “Your optimism is a constant source of wonder to me, Henry.”

They got out of the Caddy and stood for a moment taking in the surreal sight before them. Half of the house had morphed into a cluster of toadstools, a rainbow of bright, huge toadstools that merged seamlessly with the shingles of the house.

“You can fix this can’t you?”

“Oh yes, just need to get in there and retrieve the teapot.”

Henry looked at his Grandfather who gave him a cheery smile and waved a hand vaguely at the fungus side of the house.

“Off you go, it’ll be in the middle of that lot.”

Henry sighed and took off his suit jacket and tie, slinging them into the back of the car before striding towards the house. This was the part that most authors left out of their stories, the unglamorous grunt work that came with being a hero, or at least with being an apprentice trying to fix a mistake. Henry rolled up his shirt sleeves and shoved his way into the rubbery toadstools, they smelt funny, but Grandfather had promised him that they weren’t dangerous. He wished that he’d brought his sword, but considering the luck he was having today they probably would have been stopped by a traffic cop and explaining a very sharp sword on the back seat would have caused more problems than they needed right now. The toadstools yielded to his shoving with a faint boinging noise and Henry suddenly found himself inside a kitchen. It took a moment to see beyond the fungus and recognize everything for what it was, the stove, the cupboards, the sink and the kitchen table with an innocent looking teapot perched upon it, and stood in the doorway that led to the hall his Grandfather.

“How did you get there?”

Rumple shrugged and jerked a thumb over his shoulder, “I used the door, little bit confused as to why you didn’t.”

Henry muttered darkly under his breath about impish humour and stepped towards the table over a suspiciously humanoid shaped lump.

“Erm, Grandfather. I think I’ve found Mrs Collins.”

Rumple picked his way carefully round the table and tilted his head at the lump Henry was pointing to.

“Oh dear, she must have drunk quite a bit of tea. Glad I thought to bring a memory potion. Shall we?”

It didn’t take long the work the magic that reversed the effects of the teapot, although that didn’t stop Rumple grumbling that this would have been quicker if he had full access to his powers. Mrs Collins was revived and was only a little fuzzy headed as she listened to their apology cover story. 

“I am sorry ma’am, but I’d forgotten to tell my grandson that the teapot was already sold. I have a full reimbursement for you here and a discount card for the next time you drop our shop.” All delivered with a twinkly eyed charm that no one in Storybrooke would have believed Rumplestiltskin capable of.

They’d made it back to the Caddy at the end of the drive before they noticed the cruiser and the lean figure of a man dressed in sheriff’s browns leaning against the hood. He tipped his hat to them.

“Evening gents. Might I ask what’s brought you to our little town this evening?”

Out of the corner of his eye Henry noticed Grandfather’s knuckles tighten on his cane handle, it was a tiny gesture, but he was certain that the Sheriff had spotted it to. Rumple hitched a smile on to his face.

“Just conducting a little business with the lady of the house. All above board, nothing to worry the sheriff’s department with.”

The Sheriff nodded slowly and fiddled with his watchstrap, Henry spotted that little tell, but he couldn’t be sure if it was a sign of nerves or something else. The man’s voice was level and soft as he said;

“This town’s seen your type before.”

Rumple’s innocent grin twitched slightly, “Ex-pat Scotsman? I’m not surprised the weather here makes us think fondly of home.”

The Sheriff huffed a laugh, “I bet it does, but I meant magic users.”

There was no missing the way Rumple shifted on his feet, gone was the amiable business man and in his place stood something more subtly threatening. Henry glanced at him and hoped like crazy that this wasn’t going to go bad. The Sheriff rubbed at his nose and calmly said;

“Now I reckon you folks are different from the last one that came to town. See I rolled up here and watched half the Collins’ place turn back into house from a stack of mushrooms. So I’m thinking that you two are the sort who tidy up instead of make a mess. Would I be right?”

Rumple was dumbfounded, the last time he’d met anyone from this realm who knew about magic they had been more, well angry. He wasn’t sure how to deal with this placid acceptance. Henry stepped up and explained things without actually telling the Sheriff anything.

“There was a problem, but we’ve fixed it now. As far as Mrs Collins knows there was a mix up at the shop and we came out here to refund her and apologise. We just want to go home with as little fuss as possible.”

There was a tense exchange of looks, but the Sheriff finally nodded with a smile. 

“Drive safe then fellas. Thank you for visiting Castle Rock.”

Rumple’s mouth twisted into a wry smile, “And never darken our door again?”

The Sheriff shrugged and straightened up from the hood of his car. 

“Wouldn’t go that far, this time,” He held his hand out to Rumple, “Alan Pangborn.”

Rumple took his hand and shook it firmly, “Rumplestiltskin.”

The Sheriff’s eyebrows didn’t even twitch.

“I believe it and you’re not the worst we had in Castle Rock.”

Rumple snorted and followed Henry to the Caddy without giving the Sheriff another glance. They were well down the road and out of Sheriff Pangborn’s sight before Henry turned on the seat and opened his mouth at ask a question, Rumple held his hand up to stop it before it left his lips.

“I don’t know who has been in that town that’s worse than me and I hope we never find out.”

Before Henry could speculate Rumple’s text alert sounded. He fished his cell out of his pocket and tossed it to Henry. The lad’s thumbs swiped the screen and he hissed through his teeth.

“Grandfather, you forgot to tell Belle you’d be late.”

Henry just caught the muttered expletive that escaped from his Grandfather. Feeling that this was his fault, Henry replied to Belle on Grandfather’s behalf giving her a brief outline of the minor emergency they’d dealt with and telling her they’d be home soon.

“We’ll be stopping by Grannys for emergency chocolate cake then?”

“Aye. After we’ve locked this bloody teapot up safe.”

All in all Henry’s first day minding the shop on his own could have gone a lot worse.


End file.
